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They were one grand, wet, rambunctious, laughing amoeba of towheads, redheads, arms, and legs. They cackled in accented English, French, and Spanish, swimming and jumping helter-skelter. There were quite a few of us cruisers anchored at Spanish Water, and there was no lack of children onboard amongst the families. They were all glued together for a brief period, sudden fast friends in an unlikely paradise, with nothing to do but have fun!

The kids were set free for their afternoons. We had no television, no Nintendo games, nor today's ubiquitous personal computers, tablets, and smartphones. Cruising kids just had each other, their dinghies, and energy to burn. We all have vivid memories of the kids of Spanish Water playing on their various dinghies, rafts, and boards. Sometimes they cleaned other people’s dinghies and anchor chains in one big splashing game, and other times five or six kids would crowd onto a windsurfing board and "sail," using a big garbage bag for a sail and a paddle for a tiller.

About Janis

Sail Cowabunga! A Family's Ten Years at Sea, Janis Couvreux is a journalist, sailor, mom, grandmom, traveler, and Franco-American, blogging at the Huffington Post and The Lady Alliance about living bilingually, crossing oceans, backpacking adventures, and raising kids outside the box.